During Strengthened Quarantine Measures... Unauthorized Club Owner Fined for Brazen Operation
[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Business owners accused of operating clubs without a license during the period when quarantine authorities strengthened COVID-19 prevention measures were sentenced to fines in the first trial.
According to the legal community on the 12th, Judge Donghee Lee of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 2 sentenced A (34) and B (43), who were indicted for violating the Food Sanitation Act, to fines of 7 million won and 5 million won, respectively. The court pointed out, "The defendants were caught multiple times over a short period for operating an unlicensed entertainment bar but did not correct their actions," adding, "There is a strong need for punishment." A received a higher fine due to a prior conviction for a similar crime.
A and others were brought to trial on charges of operating an unlicensed club by installing a DJ box and special lighting at a general restaurant located in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in July last year, allowing customers to dance. It was investigated that they continued their "defiant operation" from the first police crackdown on July 4th until the last report on the 16th of that month. At that time, quarantine authorities had designated clubs, hunting bars, and other entertainment facilities as "high-risk facilities" for COVID-19 infection to prevent a "second Itaewon incident" and were strengthening quarantine management by urging restraint in their operation.
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In court, A and others claimed, "Customers danced voluntarily as they became intoxicated, and it was not unlicensed club operation." The court rejected this claim based on ▲ the installation of a DJ box and special lighting inside the business ▲ the main product being unlimited cocktails ▲ witnesses observing several people dancing in the passageway. The court ruled, "It is reasonable to view that entertainment facilities where customers can dance were installed, and the defendants, as co-operators, operated the business in the form of an entertainment bar (club)."
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